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Tuesday, 15 July 2014

Residents rescue boy, 10, from alleged kidnapper

Ayo Odugbesan Street. | credits: Olaleye Aluko

But
for the timely intervention of passersby and residents, a suspected
kidnapper, identified as Taiwo Ojo, would have killed a 10-year-old boy,
Moses Idowu, on Ayo Odugbesan Street, Oworonshoki, Lagos.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Moses,
who lived with his parents on Agbarajesu Street, had strolled out to
meet his friends on a neighbouring street at about 8.30pm on Monday,
July 7. While Moses was on his way back, the suspect, Ojo, who is about
26 years old, had allegedly swooped on the boy from behind, and began to
beat him up.

Our correspondent learnt that some
residents and passersby who heard Moses’ cries for help had gathered
round the kidnapper and when he could not give reason for beating the
boy, they also beat him up almost to unconsciousness.

Some of the residents told PUNCH Metro that the beating by Ojo was meant to weaken the boy before he would kidnap him.

It was learnt that it took the intervention of men of the Oworonshoki Police Division to rescue Ojo from the angry mob.

Speaking with our correspondent on
Monday, Moses’ mother, Abike Idowu, said that if not for the timely
intervention of the residents, the kidnapper could have beaten the small
boy to death and taken the body away.

She said, “Moses had strolled out that
evening to play with his friends. I was at home with the two younger
ones. The kidnapper, Moses later told me, was sleeping by the roadside.
People had asked him what he was doing there, and he had said he was
just enjoying the breeze.

“But when my son passed, he suddenly
attacked him. It was the nearby residents who became suspicious. They
were the ones who came to his rescue. Otherwise, maybe it would have
been a different story.”

Abike added that about four hospitals
where they initially rushed Moses to after the incident had rejected him
before he was eventually treated and given injections at another
hospital.

Our correspondent learnt that Moses could not go to school throughout last week, and only resumed on Monday (yesterday).

Another resident, who identified himself
simply as Olanrewaju, said Ojo, when caught, had feigned madness to
prevent the mob from beating him.

He said, “We just heard screams from the
street. It was evening and so, everywhere was dark. But we saw a man
struggling with a boy.

“We suspected he was a kidnapper, and he
then pretended to be mad. However, policemen from the Oworonshoki
station came to take him away.”

Our correspondent however gathered that
three days after Ojo was detained at the police station, his father
showed up to tell the police that the young man was actually
mentally-challenged, and had been missing from home for many days.

Ojo’s father, it was further gathered, had also paid for the hospital bills where Moses was being treated.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations
Officer, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the arrest of the suspected kidnapper,
adding that the case was under investigation at the State Criminal
Investigation Department.

She said, “On July 7, policemen attached
to the Oworonshoki Police Division rescued and arrested one Ojo from an
angry mob. Ojo allegedly wounded one Moses Idowu, 10, of Agbarajesu
Street, Oworonshoki while attempting to kidnap him. The case is under
investigation at the SCID, Yaba.”